RECONOCIMIENTO DEL SECTOR DE EDUCACIÓN EN LAS

Karl Marx’s traditional economic-based social class theory provides the genome for neo-Marxist perspectives such as critical theory, conflict theory, and more recently new culturalist-based approaches (Ball, 2000; Bottero, 2004; Reay, 2006; Savage, 2003). Traditional Marxist perspectives were cultivated during the middle of the 19th century amid the industrial revolution in Europe. Within this context, Marx observed widespread poverty, deprivation and inequalities among the ‘working’ population, and theorised that industrial capitalism had resulted in the creation of a new class- based society. Marxist perspectives posit that in order to understand social

structures and social inequalities we must first understand the economic processes and structures that underpin the capitalist society (Bedggood, 1980; Pearson and Thorns, 1983; Sharp, 1980). For Marx, class represents, above all else, the

relationship individuals have to the ‘means of production’, that is, the ways in which things are produced and the system of exchange and distribution (Wright, 2000). Class, therefore, is an amalgam of people who are in the same relationship to the means of production (Nash and Harker, 1992).

Marxist perspectives suggest the most critical feature of any system of production is who owns and controls it. Marx saw capitalist society as ultimately divided into two mutually opposed groups whose interests were irreconcilably divergent. First, the capitalists/bourgeoisie (ruling class) commonly referred to as the owners of

production and, second, the proletariat (working class) or the owners of labour. The interests of capital and the interests of wage labour were diametrically opposed and this exploitative relationship is a critical feature of Marxism. Bell and Carpenter (1994) argue the exploitative relationship between the owners of capital and the owners of labour is an inevitable part of labour capitalist production and Marxist

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theory therefore shows how social class relations are based on “conflict, inequality and exploitation” and how these elements are “built into the structure of the

economic system” (1994:113).

Similarly, Wright (2005) views exploitation as the key ingredient which most sharply distinguishes Marxist perspectives on class from other traditions. He states: “this exploitation centred concept provides theoretically powerful tools for studying a range of problems in contemporary society” (2005:5). In short, exploitation is tied to labour as people only have their labour to sell and are never paid in full for the work that they do. Therefore, in the labour market during times of economic depression, labour value is at its lowest, and within the context of Aotearoa New Zealand, Māori are affected more so than Pākehā in this scenario due to their relatively vulnerable position in the New Zealand labour market (Henare, Puckey and Nicholson, 2011).

Class Consciousness

The notion of class consciousness was central to Marx’s thesis and he made the distinction between ‘class in itself’, which is defined as a category of people having a common relation to the means or production, and a ‘class for itself’, a stratum of people organized in active pursuit of its own interests (Borland, 2008). He was particularly concerned with the emancipation of the proletariat (working class) through the development of a revolutionary class consciousness. This involved a number of discrete elements: first, consciousness of class membership; second, consciousness of class interests; third, the will to advance these interests; and finally, a realisation of what this involves. Overarching all of these elements was the perception by the working class that their position was an unsatisfactory one, one of exploitation, inequalities and deprivation. In relation to contemporary Māori life- worlds the implications of these ideas is that in order for class consciousness to act as a tool and enabler for transformation, Māori should be conscious of social class and identify themselves in terms of class membership; have common interests within this class-based stratum; have the motivation and impetus to drive these interests; and strategies to achieve these interests.

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Marx emphasised the notion of false consciousness when trying to understand why the working class did not revolt against their exploitation. He went on to say at some point the working class would revolt once they realise their subjugation. This is similar to the idea espoused by Foucault (1980) that oppression creates the seeds of resistance and action. He states: "there are no relations of power without

resistance" (1980:142), thus supporting the idea that revolutions are indeed created on the margins of society.

The notion of false consciousness has been heavily critiqued because it casts the working class as not being agentic, that is not being able to change the material conditions of their lives. Consequently, critics describe Marxist perspectives as economic determinism (Conway, 1987; Hargreaves, 1982; Hickox, 1982) because it didn’t go far enough in terms of going beyond the pathology of simply describing inequalities towards building theories and strategies which showed how to create action-based transformation. Thus, critical theorists, post-structuralists and post- modernists emerged in response to the theoretical limitations provided by Marxist perspectives. As Wright (2005) and others point out, although there is no consensus in any of the core concepts of social class analysis, what defines the tradition is capitalist oppression and the language within which debates around power, inequalities, domination and exploitation are waged (2005:5).